Postmodernism Lesson 3

Aims and Objectives By the end of this lesson you will…..

Understand the theories of the following thinkers - Baudrillard and Foucault

Be able to apply their ideas to your own ideas about Postmodern Media

Notes

• Take notes from text in RED

Baudrillard

Part One: Jean Baudrillard (1929-2007) Baudrillard was a controversial Philosopher whose main ideas and concepts have been used to understand the effect of living in a Postmodern environment on our perceptions of reality.His most important book "Simulacra and Simulations" became the basis of the Matrix films Simulations and Simulacra Hyperreality

Baudrillard cont.• The effect of Postmodernism on the Audience can be extensive and can alter

our perceptions of the media and reality as the media and reality merge.

REALITY

HIGHTEN AND EXAGGERATE(SIMULATE)

SIMULACRA

HYPERREALITY

Simulations and Simulacra

• Media represent reality and in doing so change it to make it more visual and fun.

• However what happens when we start to believe that this "Simulation" is actual reality?

Activity: Chinese Drawings

• Using your whiteboards draw the image that is passed to you - how different is the end image from the original?

• Rate the following foods – which would you prefer to consume ? – which tastes more like an orange?

• The effect of living in Simulacra is a distorted sense of reality or Hyperreality…..

Hyperreality

Key Term: Hyperreality

Was first described by the Philosopher Jean Baudrillard were he suggested that the media can now create such idealistic representations of reality that out perform actual reality. The audience is left feeling depressed as they're own life doesn't live up to artificial reality.

Baudrillard and Aspirational TV

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59OJ17raqWw

• How can we see the hyperreal world of TV advertising as a simulation of Reality?

• What effects will this have on the public?

Baudrillard and the Media

• Baudrillard wrote an article called "The Gulf War did not take place" which was very controversial.

• In it he suggests that the Media set the agenda on the narrative of war - the war we saw on TV did not match real events. (they don’t show all truths therefore this limits knowledge/power)

News events = Haiti Earthquake

• How can we use Baudrillard's ideas to understand The Haitian Earthquake?

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aZRJtAED8uo newswipe haiti

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62QIIjOmJq0 newswipe season 2 ep 3

• Can you relate this to recent events such as North Korea & Boston bombings? Similarities/differences?

Think of what is NOT on TV

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_ongoing_conflicts

• On going conflicts NOT on TV news agenda

Baudrillard and Hyper-sexuality

• Watch the following news links on the recent report into Media representations of gender.

• http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_8538000/8538207.stm (the whole of society is hyper-sexualized’)

• http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_8538000/8538207.stm (children of both genders are over-exposed to sexual imagery’)

• http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_8538000/8538207.stm (media blamed for sexualization of young girls’)

Dove evolution advert

• Hyperreal beautyhttp://www.nextnature.net/2007/03/simulacra-for-dummies/

Simulacra for Dummies• Anyone can explain Baudrillard with this move. After the

recent passing-away of this philosopher, it seems appropriate to post this movie as an ultimate “Simulacra for Dummies”. This movie is quite known and probably already posted on this blog. But just in case, here it is once more: the “Evolution” movie made by Dove. The construction of reality.

• Using the concept of Hyperreality apply it to the ongoing debates of sexual imagery and children:– Should the media represent hyper-sexual

representations?– How can you apply Baudrillards ideas to virtual

worlds like Second Life and The Sims?

"Life doesn't imitate Art, it imitates bad TV" (Woody Allen)

Part Two: Michel Foucault (1926-1984)

• Foucault's ideas centred on History, particularly around how we know about the world around us and each other. He wrote extensively on the history of sexuality and gender and was a pioneer of "Queer Theory" he main contributions include.

• Panopitcalisation • Knowledge and Power

• He died from an AID's related illness in 1984

•

Foucault and the Panopiticon

• Foucault's ideas explain why we are so obsessed with Voyeurism in Postmodernity.

• • The Panopiticon was an innovate prison design by English

philosopher Jeremy Bentham in 1785. In it he designed a prison in which all inmates could be constantly watched or be under the threat of being watched.

• • Foucault thought that this idea was interesting and started

to apply the idea to Society.

Panopticonilastion and Power

• Foucault suggested that the act of watching (voyeurism) was an act of power and control on part of the viewer. We are never ourselves in social situations until we are alone away from others controlling sight.

• Because of this people act differently and the act of watching becomes an act of control.

• Recently Foucault's ideas have been used to understand Reality TV and the Media.

• In the late 90's CCTV cameras were introduced to the UK and Nottingham has the largest concentration of CCTV than any other city.

Noam Chomsky• What you will find in this film is compelling evidence (based not on

delusions, but on facts) that American media is controlled by a corporate elite who use it essentially for propaganda purposes in order to, if I may lift a phrase from Chomsky, "control the public mind."

• Once you realize how consolidated the corporate media really is, and how they twist the facts in order to pump disinformation into the homes of unsuspecting citizens, you'll never be able to look at CNN the same way again.

• Main stream media is used to divert people away from hard-hitting content (Example – people rather watch ‘Knocked up’ or ‘Juno’ (comedies) than ‘If these walls could talk’ (graphic drama).......both films about unwanted pregnancy

Noam Chomsky

Noam Chomsky (1928 - )Chomsky is a key media analyst working at MIT, he wrote "Manufacture of Consent" in which he suggests that the media is a key part changing peoples opinion on new technologies or political decisions.

How have the media gained consent for CCTV since the early 90's?How controlled are you by CCTV? - Google street view

Big Brother as Panopticon

• Since the late 90's reality TV has grown in popularity as it turns the camera on the audience, some argue this is lazy TV programming others that it reflects Chomsky's "Manufacture of Consent" and Foucualt's Panopticon.

• Does "Big Brother" reflect our Postmodern voyeuristic visual culture?

Big brother & panopticonism

Editing & Reality - Celebrity Big Brother & Racism

Big Brother To what extent is Big Brother a

Panopitcon?

How does watching Big Brother feel?

To what extent does the voting system put you in control?

How real or Hyperreal are the contestants?

Why has it been cancelled?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBwepkVurCI editing & realityhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trcA4r41OL8 big brother and racism

Social Networking as Panopticon• Recently the growing Popularity of social

networking has reflected how dependant we are on observing others and wanting to keep in touch.

• To what extent to you agree that "Facebook" is a Panopticon?

• What is the most popular feature of "Facebook"?

• What other features of the Internet could be read as Panopitcal?

Baudrillard The media presents a simulation of the world

that is artificial and hyperreal Some audiences read the hyperreal

representation as reality - hyper-sexuality The representation of reality is mediated

through the media - war reporting Foucault The media could be argued to "Manufacture

Consent" for CCTV Reality TV reflects a voyeuristic Postmodern

society Social Networking and the internet give us

greater control over voyeurism